Automation of the work and leisure environment has been a concept that has been long pursued. Despite the continued pursuit, widespread automated control has been limited.
In non-residential buildings, whether it is for or non-profit, academic, governmental, social, etc., owners and tenants face challenges similar to those in the residential market. Non-residential energy consumers can employ highly sophisticated systems for controlling their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“HVAC”), as well as for access control and information technology. Otherwise, these consumers are also generally limited to the use of programmable thermostats and motion controlled lighting.
These unmanaged, distributed control systems provide little to no visibility into energy consumption patterns. The lack of visibility makes it difficult to modify or tailor consumption patterns to reduce the energy consumed or the cost of the energy being consumed. Furthermore, participation in utility based conservation programs, such as demand-response programs, is typically limited to those residential and non-residential facilities that can operate with periodic interruptions of their air conditioning systems.
With the development of managed systems, the performance of the system is increasingly dependent on the reliability of the devices and networks in the system. Reliability and scalability issues with managed systems can significantly impact the value and usability of these systems.
As such, there is a continuing need for more reliable and scalable wireless automation systems, devices, networks, and methods that overcome the various limitations associated with prior art solutions to enable high quality, cost effective, and scalable automation solutions for buildings.